Kentucky doctor takes break from giving birth to help deliver baby in distress

Kentucky OBGYN Amanda Hess had just put on her hospital gown and settled in at the Frankfort Regional Medical Center over the weekend when she “overheard the nurses preparing for a woman in active labor who needed to deliver immediately because the baby was in distress,” according to an account of events shared on Facebook by Dr. Hala Sabry.

Though the OBGYN had been waiting for her own induction and delivery, she leapt into action to help the other expecting mother. Leah Halliday Johnson was fully dilated and waiting for the doctor on-call to return to the hospital for the delivery.

But Hess, a doctor of osteopathic medicine with certifications in both obstetrics and gynecology, knew there was no time to spare. Her own contractions were just minutes away from starting, Lex 18reported.

“I just put on another gown to cover up my backside and put on some boots over my shoes, to keep from getting any fluid and all that stuff on me, and went down to her room and I knew her,” she recalled.

Hess had given Johnson a check-up days earlier and the expecting mother expressed immediate relief at seeing the familiar OBGYN.

“Pretty amazing what she did,” Johnson told the news station. “I feel very lucky she was there and the type of person she is and step up to what she did. We really appreciate her.”